Look for Vega in the northeast in springtime
4 comments Print Me Email to FriendTonight's Sky for Wednesday, May 14 2008
Here is the star Vega, the fifth brightest star in the sky. You’ll find this beautiful bluish star by looking northeastward in mid-evening. It’s so bright that you can notice it, even when no other stars are visible.
Vega is a lovely star to come to know. When I was first learning the night sky, 30 years ago, I spent hours, days, weeks, months pouring over charts and books. So I sometimes came to know the names and whereabouts of certain stars before seeing them in the night sky. One soft May evening, I happened to glance toward the northeast. I was thrilled at the sight of Vega – gleaming, sapphire-blue – and surprisingly bright for being so low in the sky.
Like all stars, Vega rises earlier each day as Earth moves around the sun. Vega will ornament our evening sky throughout the summer and fall. Although Vega is considered a late spring or summer star, it’s actually so far north on the sky’s dome that you can find it at some time during the night, nearly every night of the year.
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I loved it
Last night in Manhattan ~1:00am there was a very bright planet in the north east. Does anyone know what it was?
Thank you!
Hi Laura, are you sure you were looking northeast? I’m thinking you might have been looking southeast. If so, you were seeing Jupiter, the largest planet, just above the southeastern horizon.
It would have been very bright and by far the most noticeable “star” in the sky!
All best,
Deborah